"This is a first for me, seeing the drone lift off in the UK." 

Justin Gong is smiling as he watches XAG's P100 take off in a field in Shropshire, in central England. The co-founder of the Chinese drone developer and manufacturer has been in the UK visiting the first-of-its-kind specialist training for drone spraying on farms. 

It comes as the Guangzhou-based company has won the first, and so far, only license to spread and spray on farms from UK aviation authorities. Regulations for chemical spray are expected within months. 

This flurry of development was prompted by the 2022 publication of a government-ordered Price Waterhouse Cooper report, which said adoption of agricultural drones could save UK companies $27 billion and contribute $55 billion to the economy – while cutting tonnes of carbon and creating 650,000 new jobs by 2030. It's a market XAG, which is yet to make a profit, is eyeing as a gateway to Western Europe.

"I think once we get into the UK market, the whole European market will be much easier for us to, you know, get into, in the following years," Gong tells CGTN Europe. "The UK, France, Germany are big agricultural countries as well so I think it's the right time. We are in front of that big demand."

The drone operators are being trained by XAG's UK partner, the agricultural university Harper Adams. It's recently begun running a week-long course, a mandatory requirement in the UK for buying an XAG drone. 

The university's head of engineering, Parmijt Chima, says the syllabus will be folded into existing degree courses, training a new generation of farm workers – and says the university has been pushing the benefits of drone technology for years. 

"What we need is the confidence of the farmer," Chima tells CGTN Europe. "When they see that this technology will work and will provide gains, then it will lead to even greater adoption of drone technology in the UK."

'The demand is huge'

Some students of the course say they've already seen a demand for drone services. Darren Dowding has just returned to the UK after 20 years in Australia, where he owns a small farm. 

"These are kind of a no-brainer, right?," he tells CGTN Europe. "Because all of a sudden you go from these massive, hulking beasts of tractor equipment, clogging up the roads and eating up diesel – to going to do similar tasks, not the same tasks, but similar tasks with a battery-operated drone using minimal fuel. The benefits are huge. And the demand, I believe, is huge now." 

Harper Adams University is looking for hi-tech solutions to common agricultural issues including labor shortages and climate change. Justin Gong ends his visit by telling students and staff he hopes to share XAG's new solutions soon.

"We want a farmer to run the robots, drones and the AI, just like how they run the traditional machinery," he says. 

"I cannot say too much about new technology because it's not released yet. But for the next generation of robots, it's going to be smarter, more efficient and more local."

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